Aright then, The feeling I get from this is that a general direction for the next phase of jess is known, but a specification is not yet there and you are soliciting input. I would have much more than an email's worth to offer there. A survey may be the way to go, or at least get started. But I cant' resist:
Seems to me that an awful lot can be done with the right parser or XML framework. The essence, that is not there now, is breaking down the component parts of a rule, particularly the LHS, not simply as syntax but as meta-knowlege it its own right. This gets to be VERY useful in large systems and has a number of applications: - Automated LHS unit test generation is one such example. - Generation of a fact-rule 'scope of influence' graph would be another very useful tool (Anyone know of a more formal name for such a directed graph?). - Identification of patterns of fact use. patterns of rule use. Such a tool can really accelerate a designers ability to abstract concepts in a knowledge base. In this world of rapid incremental improvement, logic systems have to adapt quickly to retain usefulness. You'd like to capture the total design up front, But it just doesn't happen that way. So tools to facilitate design level constructs, particularly reverse engineering, are gold. Compared to what we have now, very simple parsing improvements, primarily to facilitate the debugging process: - semantic errors (i.e. undefined variables in development rules that are caught at parse time would save a lot of debug time. Ernest: it would be worth your time just in the emails you wouldn't have to answer because of silly syntax!) - duplicate rule warnings and the whole class of "can but probably shouldn't" syntax. Ya, it's simple (he who has never cut-and-paste a rule and forgot to change the name can laugh at me first) but it's invisible at run time, and that hurts. - refining error messages to a coder-friendly format that facilitates identification and rectification. ... I'd go on but they pay me to do real work around here. Actually, I need a coffee. Jack [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I think Jack Kerkhof wrote: > > All this discussion of an improved parser, debugging, and IDE are whetting my > > appetite! > > > > Are there any specifications yet regarding what will be included in a 'version > > 7'? And any estimates of timelines? > > Jess has always been evry customer driven, so the answer to the first > question depends on what people want to see. I've got lots of > anecdotal information, but not any hard numbers on what people think > would be most important. > > I've been meaning to set up a survey to help set priorities. Anybody > know of some good, no-hassle web-based survey software? The stuff I've > been able to find has been more than worthless. > > > > > If parser work is going to be done what exactly what improvements/features are > > being entertained? > > Well, the meat of it would be that the current ad-hoc parser would be > replaced by something using a formal grammar and an intermediate AST > representation, so that introducing entirely new rule languages > becomes much simpler, and there will be a way to add user-specified > extensions. Then there will be an XML front end as an alternative to > the Jess language one. > > > > > Alan has clearly been thinking alot about debugging. Testing and Validation > > are also big issues for commercial applications. Any thoughts on automation in > > that area? > > I've thought some about what a "JessUnit" would look like. I'd love to > start a discussion about that. Anyone with XUnit experience who has > ideas? > > > > > Jack > > > > > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > > > I think James Owen wrote: > > > > Question: Will jdb or some of the other shareware (freeware) debugging > > > > tools work with Jess. I haven't tried them yet but I know that there > > > > are some that will work with other rulebased systems out there. Just > > > > wondered if anyone else had tried any of these. > > > > > > > > > > You can certainly debug Jess under any Java debugger, but obviously > > > you're going to be debugging at a low level. Our friend Alan Moore was > > > workign on a Jess debugger at one point; not sure what happened to > > > that project, Alan? > > > > > > Jess 7 is going to be the "Enterprise Edition," and it is slated to > > > include an IDE with a rule editor, debugger, etc. > > > > > > > SDG > > > > jco > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------- > > > Ernest Friedman-Hill > > > Distributed Systems Research Phone: (925) 294-2154 > > > Sandia National Labs FAX: (925) 294-2234 > > > PO Box 969, MS 9012 [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Livermore, CA 94550 http://herzberg.ca.sandia.gov > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > To unsubscribe, send the words 'unsubscribe jess-users [EMAIL PROTECTED]' > > > in the BODY of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED], NOT to the list > > > (use your own address!) List problems? Notify [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe, send the words 'unsubscribe jess-users [EMAIL PROTECTED]' > > in the BODY of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED], NOT to the list > > (use your own address!) List problems? Notify [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > --------------------------------------------------------- > Ernest Friedman-Hill > Distributed Systems Research Phone: (925) 294-2154 > Sandia National Labs FAX: (925) 294-2234 > PO Box 969, MS 9012 [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Livermore, CA 94550 http://herzberg.ca.sandia.gov > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, send the words 'unsubscribe jess-users [EMAIL PROTECTED]' > in the BODY of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED], NOT to the list > (use your own address!) List problems? 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